RMG workers' protest over pay hike continues

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Jubair Hasan
Violent protest over pay hike by garment workers entered into its fifth day Friday when hundreds of workers blockaded roads in the city and vandalised factories.
The agitating workers demanding minimum monthly basic salary of Tk 5,000 and other financial benefits continued their protest despite assurance of better wages by both the government and garment factory owners.
Nearly 10,000 workers of Four Wing Clothing, Road Star, Vision Apparels, Tunic Fashion and Saroj Apparels staged demonstration and blockaded Farmgate-Mirpur road for about two hours to press home their demand. The workers also vandalised at least 10 factories in the area.
The workers also clashed with police in which several workers were injured.
In an effort to calm the workers Labour and Employment minister Mosharraf Hossain last Wednesday assured them of providing higher monthly within three months.
Besides, the garment manufactures' association have been holding a series of talks to stem the ongoing violence. During the talks, the workers demanded payment of attendance allowances, overtime bills, yearly incentive and pending festival bonuses. The workers were assured that they would get everything what they deserved as per the existing laws.
The owners also pledged that they would give more facilities if the government instructed them to do so.
In Friday, the riot police guarding the apparel units at the industrial area charged batons on the protestors who responded the police beating with pelting brickbats and stones that left around 20 people injured.
The fresh violence also forced authorities of around 14 factories to close their units for the day fearing further vandalism.
"We can't's export our products due to the ongoing protests," an owner of a garment factory at the trouble-prone area told the FE. "It should be stopped immediately. Otherwise, we'll lose orders from global buyers," he said with a condition of hiding his name.
The sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of the country's total export, employs three million workers in 4, 500 factories.
A senior official of BGMEA, the country's apex apparel body, said garment makers feared that export growth of the country's highest foreign currency earning sector might have slowed down slightly due to gas and power shortage. "The latest workers' unrest might worsen the situation," he added.
The BGMEA official also sought special attention from the government to protect the industry from such disturbance.
Union leaders blamed apparel owners for the unrest, saying activities of the workers go beyond control in absence of trade union in the industry.
"Who will control the agitating workers," Advocate Delwar Hossain Khan, president of Bangladesh Janaswadhin Garment Workers' Federation, said.